While I agree with the critical view of the Senate presented in the link I cannot agree with not-so-critical words about democratic senators.

Few days ago I got a phone call from Democratic party asking me for donation to “elect more Democrats”. My answer? If my money will be used to elect more of Lieberman’s and Nelson’s thank you very much. Strategically I wish for another term for Bush so he could complete the complete destruction of the Republican party.

What amazes me most is the system where senators like Nelson who try to sell their vote for the highest price possible are probably treated like heroes in their home states for bringing the bacon from Washington.

What amazes me most is the system where senators like Nelson who try to sell their vote for the highest price possible are probably treated like heroes in their home states for bringing the bacon from Washington.

Obamacare is immensely unpopular. Most people, both conservative and liberal want some sort of health care reform (though right now I think they want the economy, not health care, to be the government’s top priority), but the majority of Americans do not want this bill. It promises the blatantly impossible—huge increases in coverage (another 50 million citizens) while somehow reducing costs—and was the crafted behind locked doors, despite promises that the process would be “transparent” and public. And Obama himself admitted that provisions that were “snuck in there” violated some of the pledges made to the public about the plan. Is it any wonder that a majority of voters are cynical about it, and don’t want it?

Most voters in Nebraska don’t want it either, and don’t like having their state’s vote for it bought with a naked bribe, which is why Nelson’s popularity is sinking. It ought to tell you how unpopular this bill is when the Democrats can’t even get it passed, despite having a supermajority unprecedented in Congress’ history.

Signature

I am the very model of a Christian Evangelical
I’ve no need for courtesy when fighting things heretical
I know the bible word for word; you’ll find me pedagogical
I have my faith so I’ve no need for ideas that are logical
Atheists and Pagans fall before my wit satirical
They’ll burn in hell just as they should; their cries will be so lyrical
I’m always right, you’re always wrong, my reasoning’s dogmatical
For I’m the very model of a Christian Evangelical

For most, that’s because they’ve been told to dislike it. For most, it has very little to do with Obamacare and everything to do with what they’re hearing from their handlers and from the pulpits of their various local religious franchises. Most of those who weep and wail and gnash their teeth over Obamacare (and pretty damn much any political issue) actually care very little about what’s real and true, but only about affirming their home team’s doctrine.

Signature

“We say, ‘Love your brother…’ We don’t say it really, but… Well we don’t literally say it. We don’t really, literally mean it. No, we don’t believe it either, but… But that message should be clear.”—David St. Hubbins

For most, it has very little to do with Obamacare and everything to do with what they’re hearing from their handlers and from the pulpits of their various local religious franchises. Most of those who weep and wail and gnash their teeth over Obamacare (and pretty damn much any political issue) actually care very little about what’s real and true, but only about affirming their home team’s doctrine.

Well said. I love it when Americans debate whether democracy can take roots in Iraq or in the Middle East. The question I have for them is “Can democracy take roots in America?”.

For most, that’s because they’ve been told to dislike it. For most, it has very little to do with Obamacare and everything to do with what they’re hearing from their handlers and from the pulpits of their various local religious franchises. Most of those who weep and wail and gnash their teeth over Obamacare (and pretty damn much any political issue) actually care very little about what’s real and true, but only about affirming their home team’s doctrine.

There is some truth to this, but it’s not that simple. Obamacare really is a bad idea. For example, Obama is calling for the federal government to regulate premiums He proposed this on the heels a California company raising charges on some individual policies by as much as 39%. Obama said: “if a rate increase is unreasonable and unjustified, health insurers must lower premiums, provide rebates, or take other actions to make premiums affordable.” Now a market solution to this problem is to allow medical insurance across state lines, which would increase competition. And in a competitive market, if a rate increase is unreasonable and unjustified, customers can and will head for greener pastures. The problem with Obama’s proposal is that it’s nothing more than price fixing, which never, ever, ever, ever works.

Signature

I am the very model of a Christian Evangelical
I’ve no need for courtesy when fighting things heretical
I know the bible word for word; you’ll find me pedagogical
I have my faith so I’ve no need for ideas that are logical
Atheists and Pagans fall before my wit satirical
They’ll burn in hell just as they should; their cries will be so lyrical
I’m always right, you’re always wrong, my reasoning’s dogmatical
For I’m the very model of a Christian Evangelical

The decline of American healthcare started when HMOs were called in to “control the spiraling cost of healthcare”. The first step in restoring the sanity is to kick out all healthcare insurers once and for all.

What’s next? Are we going to buy the food insurance? You know, you pay the premium and they cover your shopping expenses? This is how ridiculous the whole concept of insurance is even if I exaggerate a little.

Competition? Yes. We must allow pharmacists, nurses, alternative health practitioners, paramedics etc. compete, each in their own specialized field of services. Insurance should be exclusively for catastrophic illnesses. Subsidies should be provided to help those who are too poor to afford medical care. Insurance? Yes, but on one condition. Government subsidized medicine. The only fair insurance. Everybody pays (taxes). Everybody gets covered (subsidies). Nobody abuses the system (you still have to pay for the service). Period. Anything else is a scam. Doctors and insurers fight among themselves who gets the biggest portion of the pie and patients die or go broke.

I was born and raised in a socialist country. It wasn’t France, or Germany, or Great Britain. By all standards it was a country far poorer than the leading European democracies. But when I look back at the healthcare available to me in that backward country and compare it to what I get here in the US there is simply no comparison. It is still shocking to me how much I am being charged when I need a few stitches even if I pay, thanks to insurance, only a small portion of the cost. When I needed a drug I didn’t have to sacrifice my food to get it. I also had plenty of drug alternatives in my pharmacy. Herb remedies for instance, probably of little help when you had a serious illness, but extremely helpful in relieving minor discomforts related to fever, upset stomach, inflammation and a range of other minor ailments. Oh, and I was free to consult my doctor about herb remedies without the fear of being called a superstitious idiot. Now, thanks to the American Drug Cartel aka Big Pharma and Organized Medicine we are all idiots when it comes to the decent health care. Pay up or die is the name of the game. Some twenty years ago my little son got burned with a hot tea when we were camping upstate New York. The paramedics in the camp provided good professional help in relieving his pain but the visit in the nearby hospital was a nightmare even before counting in the huge bill we got at the end of the visit. Did I mention the ridiculously long time we had to wait before anyone attended my son? Did I mention the humiliation of being asked to provide the proof of insurance before we were allowed to sit and wait for a nurse? Did I mention the need to fill long forms with (in my judgment) completely useless and irrelevant information? Did I mention that when they finally attended my son his pain went away and there was no need to do anything, yet they changed bandages and gave us a huge bill? I can swear I never had to go through such ordeal in the poor backward country I was born and raised. Not to mention that nobody asked me about my religion when I checked in the local emergency room (yes, I provided an insulting answer). Not to mention that nobody insisted that I submit myself to unnecessary X-rays taking (I refused and was asked to sign the form that the horrible consequences of acting against medical advice are my responsibility. I obliged). Not to mention that I was never subjected to catscan or MRI (thousands of dollars) before I was able to realize what’s happening and refuse.

Privatization. What a stupid concept. How do you expect the system based on privatized medical services to function? The results we get here in the US are inevitable. Doctors should be salaried professionals, there is no other way. If financial interests of doctors and patients contradict each other you are doomed to end up with the broken system where everybody is trying to screw everybody else.

Am I an enemy of the free enterprise, trying to limit the freedom of doctors to practice medicine as they wish? Well, let’s see who here is trying to suppress freedom. In this country, my friends, you will go to jail if you try to advertise anything competing with medical establishment. Say you have a cure for cancer and you are gone. FDA will raid your offices, question and terrorize your patients, confiscate your tools and put you in jail. Even vitamins are a bad word these days. Just watch the media. Every now and then you will get a chance to learn how useless vitamins are for this or other ailment. Really? That’s an interesting trend in the country whose population fed with processed food, sick and overweight suffers from the lack of nutrients (including vitamins) in their food. Coming back to the issue of dictating doctors how they must practice. If you regulate with a heavy hand all competition of the established medicine please don’t scream about the freedom for doctors. You can have it this or that way, but not both ways. Personally, I prefer sensible regulations favoring professional medical services (by this I mean salaried doctors) but if you want competition please open it up for everybody.

A year ago the court punished the manufacturers of Airborn for selling useless product and ordered them to reimburse their customers. For those who don’t know, Airborn is a mix of vitamins and herbal extracts believed to be helpful in strengthening the immune system and preventing colds. Personally I don’t use Airborn and I am not a friend of Oprah who endorsed the product, or a friend of the elementary school teacher who came up with the idea. However, I think that there are few innovative things about it and it definitely is harmless. As opposed to the cough medicine which killed several children in this country, and as opposed to the cold medicine suspectef of killing Brittany Murphy
Have you heard about recalling the cold medicine? Neither have I.

I know that sophisticated heart or knee replacements surgeries were not available to me in the country of my birth. But I am nostalgic to those days when doctors were actually my friends and finding help for broken bones, occasional flu, scraps and wounds, inflammations etc. was not a problem. Unfortunately I cannot even go back to the country of my birth because by now America managed to export its inhumane system even to the most remote corners of the world. Well, there is still China and India so, my friends, let’s not lose our hope.

Summary. I am disappointed with Obama health care plan as much as some of its harshest critics. I hope you know why. (if not please read my post again).autopsy

The decline of American healthcare started when HMOs were called in to “control the spiraling cost of healthcare”. The first step in restoring the sanity is to kick out all healthcare insurers once and for all.

What’s next? Are we going to buy the food insurance? You know, you pay the premium and they cover your shopping expenses? This is how ridiculous the whole concept of insurance is even if I exaggerate a little.

What’s wrong with the concept of insurance itself? You have car or homeowner’s or medical insurance to cover huge expenses that you probably don’t have the money in your bank account to cover should the worst happen. This is actually a wise and sensible precaution against disaster.

Thomas Orr - 25 February 2010 11:04 PM

Competition? Yes. We must allow pharmacists, nurses, alternative health practitioners, paramedics etc. compete, each in their own specialized field of services. Insurance should be exclusively for catastrophic illnesses. Subsidies should be provided to help those who are too poor to afford medical care. Insurance? Yes, but on one condition. Government subsidized medicine. The only fair insurance. Everybody pays (taxes). Everybody gets covered (subsidies). Nobody abuses the system (you still have to pay for the service). Period. Anything else is a scam. Doctors and insurers fight among themselves who gets the biggest portion of the pie and patients die or go broke.

I was born and raised in a socialist country. It wasn’t France, or Germany, or Great Britain. By all standards it was a country far poorer than the leading European democracies. But when I look back at the healthcare available to me in that backward country and compare it to what I get here in the US there is simply no comparison. It is still shocking to me how much I am being charged when I need a few stitches even if I pay, thanks to insurance, only a small portion of the cost. When I needed a drug I didn’t have to sacrifice my food to get it. I also had plenty of drug alternatives in my pharmacy.

Actually, the fact that you didn’t see those costs didn’t mean they weren’t there. It only means that they were covered some other way. Perhaps the lower standard of living was one of those costs.

Thomas Orr - 25 February 2010 11:04 PM

Herb remedies for instance, probably of little help when you had a serious illness, but extremely helpful in relieving minor discomforts related to fever, upset stomach, inflammation and a range of other minor ailments.

It’s interesting that you bring this up, because one of the side effects of “free” health care is vastly increased demand on medical facilities, especially emergency rooms, as people who don’t have to worry about paying out of pocket themselves go to clinic or the emergency rooms for relatively minor complaints that they could and would otherwise take care of at home. This is a statistically verifiable trend. The result is increased congestion in emergency rooms, and longer waiting times before patients with real emergencies can be seen and treated. The increased demand on doctors’ time also drives up costs.

Thomas Orr - 25 February 2010 11:04 PM

Oh, and I was free to consult my doctor about herb remedies without the fear of being called a superstitious idiot. Now, thanks to the American Drug Cartel aka Big Pharma and Organized Medicine we are all idiots when it comes to the decent health care. Pay up or die is the name of the game. Some twenty years ago my little son got burned with a hot tea when we were camping upstate New York. The paramedics in the camp provided good professional help in relieving his pain but the visit in the nearby hospital was a nightmare even before counting in the huge bill we got at the end of the visit. Did I mention the ridiculously long time we had to wait before anyone attended my son?

See above. One of the reasons you had those wait times is ER abuse by people who don’t have to worry about how much the visit costs them, because it doesn’t cost them a thing.

Thomas Orr - 25 February 2010 11:04 PM

Did I mention the humiliation of being asked to provide the proof of insurance before we were allowed to sit and wait for a nurse? Did I mention the need to fill long forms with (in my judgment) completely useless and irrelevant information? Did I mention that when they finally attended my son his pain went away and there was no need to do anything, yet they changed bandages and gave us a huge bill? I can swear I never had to go through such ordeal in the poor backward country I was born and raised. Not to mention that nobody asked me about my religion when I checked in the local emergency room (yes, I provided an insulting answer).

Before you blame the hospital staff for this, remember that different religions have different requirements, and that a hospital violating them can get sued. They weren’t asking that question just to plague you.

Thomas Orr - 25 February 2010 11:04 PM

Not to mention that nobody insisted that I submit myself to unnecessary X-rays taking (I refused and was asked to sign the form that the horrible consequences of acting against medical advice are my responsibility.

Again, made necessary by the fact that people have ignored medical advice and gone on to sue doctors and hospitals when the chickens came home to roost. But no, we don’t need tort reform as part of bringing down health care costs. Not at all.

Thomas Orr - 25 February 2010 11:04 PM

I obliged). Not to mention that I was never subjected to catscan or MRI (thousands of dollars) before I was able to realize what’s happening and refuse.

Many of which procedures are ordered by doctors as nothing more than malpractice suit prevention—which they have found through bitter experience to be necessary for self-preservation. But again, we don’t need tort reform.

Thomas Orr - 25 February 2010 11:04 PM

Privatization. What a stupid concept. How do you expect the system based on privatized medical services to function? The results we get here in the US are inevitable. Doctors should be salaried professionals, there is no other way.

Sure there is. The fact that the system we have does function, after a fashion, is proof positive that there is another way. It may not be a way that you like, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t there.

Thomas Orr - 25 February 2010 11:04 PM

If financial interests of doctors and patients contradict each other you are doomed to end up with the broken system where everybody is trying to screw everybody else.

Am I an enemy of the free enterprise, trying to limit the freedom of doctors to practice medicine as they wish? Well, let’s see who here is trying to suppress freedom. In this country, my friends, you will go to jail if you try to advertise anything competing with medical establishment. Say you have a cure for cancer and you are gone. FDA will raid your offices, question and terrorize your patients, confiscate your tools and put you in jail.

Oh the irony of a liberal bemoaning too much government regulation of private individuals and their activities.

But this isn’t just the government being a big bad boogeyman you know. There’s a reason for this. It’s to protect people from quack doctors and snake oil remedies, and history’s proven the need for such protections. Charlatans have touted various things as cures, causing patients to forgo treatments that actually work in favor of things that don’t, and that leads to increased suffering and even costs lives.

Thomas Orr - 25 February 2010 11:04 PM

Even vitamins are a bad word these days. Just watch the media. Every now and then you will get a chance to learn how useless vitamins are for this or other ailment. Really? That’s an interesting trend in the country whose population fed with processed food, sick and overweight suffers from the lack of nutrients (including vitamins) in their food. Coming back to the issue of dictating doctors how they must practice. If you regulate with a heavy hand all competition of the established medicine please don’t scream about the freedom for doctors. You can have it this or that way, but not both ways. Personally, I prefer sensible regulations favoring professional medical services (by this I mean salaried doctors) but if you want competition please open it up for everybody.

See above. The history of patent medicine and other claimed miracle cures ought to tell you that you really can’t let just anybody practice medicine, regardless of their training or expertise (or lack thereof). Quack doctors can kill people.

Thomas Orr - 25 February 2010 11:04 PM

A year ago the court punished the manufacturers of Airborn for selling useless product and ordered them to reimburse their customers. For those who don’t know, Airborn is a mix of vitamins and herbal extracts believed to be helpful in strengthening the immune system and preventing colds. Personally I don’t use Airborn and I am not a friend of Oprah who endorsed the product, or a friend of the elementary school teacher who came up with the idea. However, I think that there are few innovative things about it and it definitely is harmless. As opposed to the cough medicine which killed several children in this country, and as opposed to the cold medicine suspectef of killing Brittany Murphy
Have you heard about recalling the cold medicine? Neither have I.

I know that sophisticated heart or knee replacements surgeries were not available to me in the country of my birth. But I am nostalgic to those days when doctors were actually my friends and finding help for broken bones, occasional flu, scraps and wounds, inflammations etc. was not a problem. Unfortunately I cannot even go back to the country of my birth because by now America managed to export its inhumane system even to the most remote corners of the world. Well, there is still China and India so, my friends, let’s not lose our hope.

You’ve got to be kidding me.

Thomas Orr - 25 February 2010 11:04 PM

Summary. I am disappointed with Obama health care plan as much as some of its harshest critics. I hope you know why. (if not please read my post again).autopsy

I know some of the reasons. I am sure we would disagree about others. But I think this bill is dead, and if the democrats do try to force it through via reconciliation, they may follow it into the grave, politically speaking.

Signature

I am the very model of a Christian Evangelical
I’ve no need for courtesy when fighting things heretical
I know the bible word for word; you’ll find me pedagogical
I have my faith so I’ve no need for ideas that are logical
Atheists and Pagans fall before my wit satirical
They’ll burn in hell just as they should; their cries will be so lyrical
I’m always right, you’re always wrong, my reasoning’s dogmatical
For I’m the very model of a Christian Evangelical

What’s wrong with the concept of insurance itself? You have car or homeowner’s or medical insurance to cover huge expenses that you probably don’t have the money in your bank account to cover should the worst happen. This is actually a wise and sensible precaution against disaster.

Nothing is wrong with the concept of insurance when applied to appropriate situations.

What is nonsensical is to apply insurance to anticipated and not out of the norm expenses. The litmus paper to detect the inappropriateness of insurance is this. If you buy insurance expecting and hoping that you will never have to use it then it is appropriate. If you buy insurance hoping that it will lower your overall expenses that’s when it is inappropriate. But I guess we are the nation of gamblers who are all hoping to beat the system and get “free lunch”. There is no “free lunch”. If you get free lunch it means somebody else will pay for it.

The capitalism induced mentality prevailing in this country has been shocking to me from the very beginning. When there was time to start saving money for my sons’ college education I learned from the “financial adviser” that the best way is to buy whole life insurance. Since when, I asked him, you lower your cost by buying the service you don’t need? He started mumbling something about tax incentives. There you go.

The decline of American healthcare started when HMOs were called in to “control the spiraling cost of healthcare”. The first step in restoring the sanity is to kick out all healthcare insurers once and for all.

What’s next? Are we going to buy the food insurance? You know, you pay the premium and they cover your shopping expenses? This is how ridiculous the whole concept of insurance is even if I exaggerate a little.

Competition? Yes. We must allow pharmacists, nurses, alternative health practitioners, paramedics etc. compete, each in their own specialized field of services. Insurance should be exclusively for catastrophic illnesses. Subsidies should be provided to help those who are too poor to afford medical care. Insurance? Yes, but on one condition. Government subsidized medicine. The only fair insurance. Everybody pays (taxes). Everybody gets covered (subsidies). Nobody abuses the system (you still have to pay for the service). Period. Anything else is a scam. Doctors and insurers fight among themselves who gets the biggest portion of the pie and patients die or go broke.

I was born and raised in a socialist country. It wasn’t France, or Germany, or Great Britain. By all standards it was a country far poorer than the leading European democracies. But when I look back at the healthcare available to me in that backward country and compare it to what I get here in the US there is simply no comparison. It is still shocking to me how much I am being charged when I need a few stitches even if I pay, thanks to insurance, only a small portion of the cost. When I needed a drug I didn’t have to sacrifice my food to get it. I also had plenty of drug alternatives in my pharmacy. Herb remedies for instance, probably of little help when you had a serious illness, but extremely helpful in relieving minor discomforts related to fever, upset stomach, inflammation and a range of other minor ailments. Oh, and I was free to consult my doctor about herb remedies without the fear of being called a superstitious idiot. Now, thanks to the American Drug Cartel aka Big Pharma and Organized Medicine we are all idiots when it comes to the decent health care. Pay up or die is the name of the game. Some twenty years ago my little son got burned with a hot tea when we were camping upstate New York. The paramedics in the camp provided good professional help in relieving his pain but the visit in the nearby hospital was a nightmare even before counting in the huge bill we got at the end of the visit. Did I mention the ridiculously long time we had to wait before anyone attended my son? Did I mention the humiliation of being asked to provide the proof of insurance before we were allowed to sit and wait for a nurse? Did I mention the need to fill long forms with (in my judgment) completely useless and irrelevant information? Did I mention that when they finally attended my son his pain went away and there was no need to do anything, yet they changed bandages and gave us a huge bill? I can swear I never had to go through such ordeal in the poor backward country I was born and raised. Not to mention that nobody asked me about my religion when I checked in the local emergency room (yes, I provided an insulting answer). Not to mention that nobody insisted that I submit myself to unnecessary X-rays taking (I refused and was asked to sign the form that the horrible consequences of acting against medical advice are my responsibility. I obliged). Not to mention that I was never subjected to catscan or MRI (thousands of dollars) before I was able to realize what’s happening and refuse.

Privatization. What a stupid concept. How do you expect the system based on privatized medical services to function? The results we get here in the US are inevitable. Doctors should be salaried professionals, there is no other way. If financial interests of doctors and patients contradict each other you are doomed to end up with the broken system where everybody is trying to screw everybody else.

Am I an enemy of the free enterprise, trying to limit the freedom of doctors to practice medicine as they wish? Well, let’s see who here is trying to suppress freedom. In this country, my friends, you will go to jail if you try to advertise anything competing with medical establishment. Say you have a cure for cancer and you are gone. FDA will raid your offices, question and terrorize your patients, confiscate your tools and put you in jail. Even vitamins are a bad word these days. Just watch the media. Every now and then you will get a chance to learn how useless vitamins are for this or other ailment. Really? That’s an interesting trend in the country whose population fed with processed food, sick and overweight suffers from the lack of nutrients (including vitamins) in their food. Coming back to the issue of dictating doctors how they must practice. If you regulate with a heavy hand all competition of the established medicine please don’t scream about the freedom for doctors. You can have it this or that way, but not both ways. Personally, I prefer sensible regulations favoring professional medical services (by this I mean salaried doctors) but if you want competition please open it up for everybody.

A year ago the court punished the manufacturers of Airborn for selling useless product and ordered them to reimburse their customers. For those who don’t know, Airborn is a mix of vitamins and herbal extracts believed to be helpful in strengthening the immune system and preventing colds. Personally I don’t use Airborn and I am not a friend of Oprah who endorsed the product, or a friend of the elementary school teacher who came up with the idea. However, I think that there are few innovative things about it and it definitely is harmless. As opposed to the cough medicine which killed several children in this country, and as opposed to the cold medicine suspectef of killing Brittany Murphy
Have you heard about recalling the cold medicine? Neither have I.

I know that sophisticated heart or knee replacements surgeries were not available to me in the country of my birth. But I am nostalgic to those days when doctors were actually my friends and finding help for broken bones, occasional flu, scraps and wounds, inflammations etc. was not a problem. Unfortunately I cannot even go back to the country of my birth because by now America managed to export its inhumane system even to the most remote corners of the world. Well, there is still China and India so, my friends, let’s not lose our hope.

Summary. I am disappointed with Obama health care plan as much as some of its harshest critics. I hope you know why. (if not please read my post again).autopsy

I would say, get rid of the senate, get rid of the electoral college, bring in proportional representation, and you might have a more democratic state.

It’s not that simple, unfortunately. People think that democracy is a political system of governing the country. It isn’t. Democracy the way we practice it is just a set of rules how political power is gained. Once a political party wins the democratic process ends.
It still beats other ways of settling political power struggle but let’s not call it what it is not.